Olympic Spirit Must Survive Cowardly Blast

Felicia Mason

July 29, 1996|By FELICIA MASON Daily Press

Like most Americans I woke up Saturday morning to news that a bomb had exploded at the Olympics. I scrambled to the television and to the newspaper for details. I listened to President Clinton's address. I started the long-distance roll call to friends and family who have loved ones at the Games in Atlanta.

And I asked the all too familiar question: Why? Why would someone do that? As the investigation of TWA Flight 800 continues and sabotage looms larger as a likely explanation, I ask the same question.

Is the goal to numb us so much that the pain of destruction is lessened? That's unlikely. In Montoursville, Pa., where a single town lost 21 of its best and brightest on that flight, every one of those funerals will be as difficult as the first. For the thousands gathered in Atlanta, that bomb casts a pall over the Games that are supposed to celebrate goodwill and international brotherhood.

What makes a person so angry with himself, at another human being or at the world that he - or she - would deliberately attempt to maim or kill other people? Is it for kicks?

The pipe bomb in a knapsack at the Centennial Olympic Park was stuffed with screws and nails, a malicious attempt to compound damage from an explosion. Not at all comforting is the assurance from investigators that Middle Eastern terrorists specialized in much higher-powered truck bombs like the one that blew up at New York's World Trade Center. Church fires across the South, the bombing in Oklahoma City and the madness of the Unabomber are just a few examples confirming the fact that foreign terrorists aren't the only crazies we need to worry about. The home-grown variety can wreak just as much havoc.

The alert guards in Atlanta who noticed the unattended knapsack and started moving people out of the area are heroes. President Clinton rightfully and repeatedly commended their quick thinking and their action. It undoubtedly saved the lives of many, many people.

As a frequent flier, I admit a measure of trepidation as I travel through some of the country's busiest airports. Is that guy over there a terrorist? Was the woman who left her bag in that chair headed to a restroom or for cover? Will any one of the 200 or so people crammed into this flight be crazy enough to conceal a bomb or a weapon in a bag somewhere on this plane?

We are all potential victims in a world seemingly gone mad with civil war, holy war, acts of terrorism and acts of cowardice perpetrated in this country and abroad.

One of the televised reports Saturday included an interview with a vendor from Ireland who said he immediately knew the loud sound was a bomb exploding. He said he knew because the sound, one easily recognized from the strife in his homeland, was all too familiar.

Security is heightened and tightened in Atlanta, and the Games continue. The terrorist act in Atlanta won't stop the Games. For the men and women who have traveled from distant points across the globe to participate in the Games or to watch from the sidelines, the spirit of the Olympics cannot be squelched. We pause. We pray. We lower the flags, shed tears and mourn, but the spirit continues.

Persistence, determination, endurance and resilience - those are the qualities every Olympic athlete must have. Those qualities also make up the character of the American people. We can refuse to be intimidated by cowards and bullies. We cannot let our hearts or our spirits be taken hostage.

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